Your landlord charges your rent weekly, but Universal Credit is assessed and paid monthly. Because of this, Universal Credit only pays 364 days in a year, even though there are always 365 days in a normal year - and 366 days in every leap year.
So, your Universal Credit it always going to be one day short each year - or two in a leap year.
The DWP work out your monthly rent by multiplying a week’s rent by 52 and dividing by 12.
This would be fine if there were exactly 52 weeks rent in a year, but there aren’t as there is always an extra day in the year - or two in a leap year. For the mathematically minded, this is because '52 (weeks) x 7 days = 364 days, not 365.
You won’t normally notice this but every few years when the extra day falls on a Monday* it will show on your rent account as a full week’s debt.
*As this is the day your rent week starts.
Unfortunately 2024 is one of these years.
The DWP have said they won’t pay any extra Universal Credit to cover this.
If you are clearing your rent account every week or month – reducing the balance to zero - then this won’t be a problem.
But where you pay your rent every month by using the same system as the DWP (i.e. your 'weekly rent x 52 (weeks)', 'divided by 12') then you’ll be a day short every year (two in a leap year) and will, therefore, have to pay that extra amount.
If you think you are going to be affected by this, please contact us.
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